SCHAUMBURG, Ill.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--After more than 10 years of success in the marketplace, HEIDENHAIN’s LIF
400 family of encoders has been redesigned with several
improvements. The updates to this exposed linear kit style encoder
originated from listening to customer requests over the years, and now
comes with much improved contamination resistance, among other
enhancements. The new LIF 400 series has a position noise value of 0.6
nanometers at 1MHz and a low interpolation error down to +/- 12
nanometers. Industries that could take advantage of this encoder are
semiconductor, metrology, micromachining, and medical.

One of the major updates is the incorporation of the HEIDENHAIN Signal
Processor (HSP1.0) custom ASIC into the scanning unit. This ASIC helps
lower the interpolation error, and also powers through contaminations on
the scale as it adjusts the LED intensity every signal period while
moving at up to 4 meters per second. See video.

This compensation adjusts the amplitude and phase of the signals so that
the control sees constant perfect signals even with contaminants such as
large fingerprints, dust, and wafer pieces that may be on the glass
scale.

Another addition is a status LED on the connector that indicates the
status of the incremental signals and can also be used as a general
mounting indication. It’s a simple red/green display for the signals and
blue for a good reference mark signal. Also, the connector is now
smaller versus the older version, which saves space and improves
accessibility when plugged into tight spaces. This 15 pin male connector
is 27mm shorter than the previous version.

Like the previous version, the mechanics of the scanning head do not
change, and scanning units can be ordered with the 1-volt peak-to-peak
interface with 4-micron signal period, or TTL versions with resolutions
down to 10 nanometers. The glass scale is also unchanged.

About HEIDENHAIN

Dr. Johannes HEIDENHAIN GmbH, headquartered in Traunreut, Germany,
develops and supports motion control feedback solutions for the machine
tool, semiconductor, electronics assembly and test, metrology,
automation, medical, energy, biotechnology and other global markets.
HEIDENHAIN employs approximately 6,000 people worldwide in its core
business activities. The North American subsidiary is HEIDENHAIN
CORPORATION, headquartered in Schaumburg, IL, and San Jose, CA, and has
been serving the U.S. industry for over 50 years. www.heidenhain.us